Safeguard
by hatehateslove
Summary: Andrew's got his hand wrapped around Neil's throat and Neil has no regrets.


To say Coach David Wymack was proud of his Foxes would be an understatement. The word 'Proud' never once passed his lips, but the Foxes knew, they knew he was proud in the set of his shoulders, the upturn of his lips, the lilt of his voice.

They had made Spring Championships, no one had come close to being killed, and they had survived, thrived the year.

That didn't stop the prominent scowl on his face when he had to announce that they would be playing the Ravens for semifinals in an away game two weeks from then.

And so they trained. They trained like the newer Foxes had never seen them train. They trained at odd hours, for longer and harder than ever. They had thought Kevin was tough on a good day. This didn't come close. What made it worse was that all the older Foxes used to be bearable, but now, even Renee had them wishing they'd never taken up Exy.

They knew the Foxes and Ravens had a history, none of it good. But they hadn't realized just how bad. But watching Andrew actually train with them, Neil and Kevin sleep just enough to survive, and Wymack having to step in to make them take breaks had them both intrigued and questioning everyone's sanity.

It wasn't until they took the court two weeks later that they found none of it was for naught.

The Raven's took to the court like they had a captain's death to avenge. The newbies had thought that they knew what was coming but no amount of training would have prepared them for the utter brutality of the game.

They had all played with rough teams, they'd been redcarded and/or injured, they'd given their fair share of injuries themselves. But they hadn't expected most of their starting line up to be out of the game within the first half.

The score was 6 - 7, Ravens.

Both team had more injuries than any either had had the whole season.

Wymack was pacing, trying to think of ways to salvage the situation. He looked at his beaten up Freshmen. All of them had been subbed in and subsequently injured enough for Wymack not to consider putting them back in for the next half.

And so that left him his old team. He looked to Neil, who in turn glanced at Andrew. Andrew gave a slight nod. Wymack closed his eyes and shook his head with a small smile, the fight hadn't left them yet.

Second half started with Andrew at goal, Aaron, Matt, and Allison at far-court, and Neil and Kevin at half-court.

Neil scored 10 minutes in, to tie the game, but 40 seconds later a Raven scored. Neil grit his teeth, they were out of subs, the players on court were their last line of defense, so to speak.

It takes Kevin another 7 minutes to tie the game again.

There's 25 minutes left.

No one scores

Play clock runs out, they go over time.

Everyone's angry and tired - not a good combination.

The fighting had lulled, with either team focusing on scoring or defending more than anything.

As soon as over time started, fists started flying.

Allison was the first to break. She'd had enough of her mark's taunting. The Raven had broughten up Seth, and Allison hadn't hesitated to deck her.

Another Raven had run to her teammate, a murderous look on her face. Aaron intercepted her.

Matt had been distracted by Aaron running off, missing his mark's racquet that collided with his helmet. The referees were dealing with Allison and the fight she'd started, not noticing Matt retaliate by tripping his mark, who fell, prompting another Raven to go for Matt.

At this point Neil had noticed Matt's situation. He was close enough that at his speed he managed to throw the ball to Kevin, while body-checking the Raven that was going for Matt. Making it look accidental.

Allison and Aaron are both sporting bruises, but no redcards had been handed.

Matt's probably disoriented, and might be sporting a minor concussion.

Neil's trying to gauge how Matt's doing. He doesn't see another Raven coming straight for him. He'd thought the fighting was over.

Kevin noticed, but was too slow, The Raven wasn't even trying to make it look like an accident, he went for Neil's legs, trying to trip him. When that didn't work he managed to punch Neil hard enough to knock his helmet askew. They next blow had him doubling over. By the time he got a kick in, Kevin had shoved him.

Matt had gotten over the disorientation and had gone to help.

Aaron and Allison made eye contact before running for their friends with a nod, the same moment the last two Ravens started running for them.

By the time referees had broken up the fighting, Neil was curled in on himself on the ground. Andrew watched with gritted teeth. They couldn't afford to lose him during over time and he knew the game was more important to Neil than anything. So he stayed put.

There were bleeding, broken noses, bruised and bleeding knuckles, and more than enough bruises to go around. Neil and a Raven had lost their helmets.

Neil got up. Painstakingly, but he managed. He didn't look too bad, nothing was bleeding, but Andrew had watched how hard the Raven had been hitting him. He knew nothing anyone said was going to stop Neil from playing. So he didn't try.

Wymack had called a timeout. His expression was thunderous, he wasn't mad at his

Foxes, but what had happened to them. He subbed Dan for Matt, who had started to stumble. Abby was with him. She had handed Aaron, Allison, and Kevin an ice pack each. Sparing Neil a once over, giving him 2 ice packs and a bottle of water. The four of them were holding them up to various body parts, but they were ok to play.

Wymack glanced at Neil. Who looked better than the rest, but he knew he's been hit the most. Neil nodded once, not looking directly at Wymack, and they went back in to play.

The first team to score would win. Simple enough. And it was. Andrew passed it to the other side of the court to Neil, who passed it to Kevin, who scored. Simple, not easy. Game over.

Until, "Someone should take out their goalie, it would be the same blow to them as Riko was to us."

Neil hadn't even realized they weren't talking to him.

He hadn't realized the Raven was talking to two of his teammates.

He hadn't realized that he'd bit his tongue hard enough to make it bleed.

He hadn't realized he'd already swung at the nearest one before the other two turned at the sound of a brutal punch.

Neil held his own, but there was only so much he could do up against three guys all taller and heavier than he.

No one was close enough to help.

Kevin had made it at the same time the referees did.

Andrew had started running, but couldn't do anything with referees two feet from him. So he helped Neil up and walked him to the locker room with an arm around Neil's waist, Neil's arm around his shoulders.

The locker room was silent as the Foxes shuffled in, no one had stopped for the press, and Wymack wasn't about to make them.

Abby took Neil from Andrew and started fixing him up. He had a busted lip that would need stitches. His left cheek was starting to form an enormous bruise, just barely missing his eye. His left shoulder was dislocated. Andrew had also noticed that he was limping, so he told Abby as much.

It looked like he'd just barely managed to escape without a sprained ankle. Abby was muttering about the luck of the devil under her breath. She'd seen the hits he'd taken today, and to have gotten out without too much damage was a miracle in and of itself.

She relocated his shoulder as Wymack began to talk. Neil's short yell cut him off, he swallowed and continued.

"I don't - There isn't anything that I could say that could make this ok, I'm aware. But." He paused to take a deep breath that came out sounding too much like a sigh, "But we're Foxes. We take what we get dealt and pick ourselves up. We are better than them, I don't care what anyone says. The Ravens are done. And we're not looking back. We're gonna move forward, like I know only we can." He took a moment to meet everyone's eyes to make sure they knew he was being sincere. "Alright. Get changed, I wanna go home."

No one was going to argue that.

Except Andrew.

As soon as Abby had left Neil's side, Andrew had made his way to him. He waited until Wymack was done talking to shove Neil against the wall abruptly.

Neil stumbled, his ankle protesting. Andrew took a threatening step closer. They had everyone's attention. Andrew brought up a hand to Neil's throat. No one but Neil knew that it wasn't threatening. It was gentle, caressing his neck, he knew Andrew's forefingers were on his pulse. He could feel it throbbing against Andrew's fingers. The upperclassmen were tensing, they hadn't seen Andrew ever get like this with Neil.

"What the fuck were you doing?"

Andrew was speaking just above a whisper, but his voice carried, and everyone could hear.

"Dancing." Neil replied dryly.

Andrew's hand tensed, reminding Neil that he could hurt him if he pushed him. "I saw. You punched him. He didn't say anything to you." Andrew turned abruptly, as if just realizing they had an audience. The Freshman made themselves scarce as soon as he turned. "Get out." The upperclassmen hesitated until Wymack dismissed them with a shake of his head.

It was just Andrew and Neil. Andrew turned back to face him, "Talk.'

Neil stared defiantly. He knew if Andrew knew that he did it because of him, he wouldn't speak to him, and he didn't want to argue. He was tired, he just wanted a shower and one of Andrew's sweatshirts. But apparently that was too much to ask.

"There were talking shit, I wasn't gonna take it."

Andrew slammed his hands against Neil's throat again, knocking the wind out of him. "They weren't talking to you."

"Just drop it, Andrew."

"Don't tell me what to do."

"Why does it even matter!?"

"Because - " Andrew's voice broke. He stepped back, ducking his head.

Neil raised a brow in confusion.

Wymack paused in the doorway, a hand raised to knock. But the scene in front of him stopped him short. Andrew had his head down, standing in front of Neil. Neil was looking down at him in confusion and slight worry. Neither of them speaking.

For the first time since Wymack had met him, Andrew Minyard looked vulnerable.

Wymack took a step back, not wanting to intrude on such a private, intimate moment. But he couldn't help but hear the raw emotion in Andrew's voice as he said what he said next. Something Wymack knew was the opposite of what he meant.

"Because I - I hate you."

 _I hate you._


End file.
